Most likely drinking game

We’re just about halfway through 2018 (which has somehow taken both too long and no time at all). As is tradition, we’ve shaken our our brains around to see which games from the last six months still make our neurons fizzle with delight. Then we wrote about them here, in this big list feature that you’re reading right now this second. And what games they are! 2018 has been a great year so far, and our top picks run the whole range, from hand drawn oddities made by one person, to big mega-studio blockbusters that took the work of hundreds. And each of them is special to us in some way. Just like you are too. Click through the arrows to see the full spread of our faves so far. Better luck next year to the games that didn’t make the cut this time. Graham: Into The Breach’s greatest idea is that it’s a turn-based game about interrupting your opponent. At the start of each of your turns, you’re shown what the enemy intends to do. A big beetle … [Read more...] about The bestest and most top PC games of 2018 so far

It’s St. Patrick’s Day over here in America. Like a gigantic dummy, I started a weekend job on St. Patrick’s Day instead of making a mess of myself hooliganing across my neighborhood like normal. This is good for the folks in my neighborhood but unpleasant for me, so time to live vicariously through some of the best and worst video game drinking mini-games, maxi-games, and casual effects. Bulletstorm The much overlooked shooter-slash-spacewhip game Bulletstorm has a cool achievement tied to the drinking/not drinking of Nom Juice. When the player is drunk, the effects grant the player the Intoxicated skillshot bonus and destroying the bottles will reward a similar amount. Shooting or drinking 20 bottles of the beverage will award you with the Straight Edge or Space Pirate achievement depending on which path you choose. I unlocked the Space Pirate achievement, as you might have guessed. The net positive despite your choice here is really clever, but more games should … [Read more...] about St. Patrick’s Day is a good excuse for digital drinking

When Kingdom Come: Deliverance launched on Feb. 13. the game was riddled with bugs, and the developers at Warhorse Studios have been working hard to patch out the worst of them. Over the weekend they took just a moment to to detail future plans, including a partial fix to the game’s controversial save system. In Kingdom Come the only way to manually save your game is to sleep in a bed that you own or drink a beverage called “saviour schnapps.” Not only is the drink expensive to purchase from in-game vendors, but it will also get you drunk. That’s not always advisable if you’re heading into high-stakes, first-person melee combat. Fans and critics alike have spoken out about the lack of a quick-save feature, and it looks like Warhorse is willing to meet them halfway. The upcoming 1.3 patch, Warhorse said, will add a “save and exit” feature. So, while players won’t be able to spam save games as they go along, they will at least be able to … [Read more...] about Kingdom Come developer promises changes to game’s controversial save system

Games have immense capacity to make us feel cool or smart or highly capable — or all three at the same time. And few things can pull that off quite like a great hacking mechanic. These days hacking is more topical than ever, and for anyone making a game that even flirts with the implications of the growing interconnectedness and networking capabilities of objects and devices all over the world — and the sometimes-questionable security protocols protecting them — it's rife for potential as a video game mechanic. With that in mind, we reached out to several developers for their help building a list of games with hacking mechanics that every dev should study. Watch Dogs 2 — an open-world hacker's toolkit Watch Dogs 2's satire-laden cautionary tale on the dangers of unchecked, unregulated technological progress has hacking woven into its very DNA. Whether it's the InfoSec-rooted storyline or the hacktivist credentials of its lead character and his team, … [Read more...] about 7 games with interesting hacking mechanics all devs should study

Lock and load Okay, this list was never going to be easy to compile. As one of the most popular, eclectic and influential gaming genres, nailing down the list of the best FPS titles to just 25 games is an almost ridiculous task. So to help narrow things down, we made some hard and fast rules. Read them before you move on.Number 1: The games have to be first person, and shooting has to be the predominant game system (hey, the clue is in "FPS"). So no Gears of War, and no Resident Evil 7. Number 2: This list is about currently best, not historically most important. To keep this list accessible, we're only including games you can play right now on current-generation consoles, instead of having to hunt down a PS2 at a garage sale. Have no fear: we haven’t forgotten the influential games that came before. They have their very own slide that explains their importance to the genre before we get started. See if you agree with our choices, as we progress toward revealing our number … [Read more...] about The 25 best FPS games to play right now